in 2010, the federal government gave $300 million to pbs of course is not chicken scratch but $30300 million is about 1/100 of 1% of the total federal budget. one thing is sure, firing big bird sure ain't going to fix the deficit. as you can imagine romney's big bird dis has not gone over well with the residents of "sesame street" including elmo who sat down with this exclusive interview with our own brett ehrlich. shh, brett's talking now. >> listen, i know how you can lose a debate but what i don't know is how you can lose a debate to a guy who during that debate said that he wanted to cancel "sesame street." when i say i'm fond of someone i don't then vow to fire them. i wanted to talk to someone that this statement might hurt the most and for that, we talked to my close personal friend, elmo. elmo, how are you feeling? >> elmo is trying to make this a learning experience. for example p is for positive. very well. >> elmo, that's so -- what do you mean you're not doing well? >> elmo is concerned for everyone on "sesame street." we already live on the street. >> so you really thing